Push the Sky Away, his new album with the Bad Seeds and released on his own Bad Seeds label, comes in various editions, including a "Super Deluxe" linen-bound box set that carries a certificate of authenticity signed by Cave and a nearly $200 price tag.

To celebrate the disc's release, he and his ever-changing band played a series of special shows spotlighting the new work from start to finish, accompanied by a choir and string section and preceded by a 10-minute documentary. Thursday night's performance, two days after the album dropped, was the only North American date and the group's first L.A. set in more than four years. That exclusivity – although the show was broadcast online and Cave will return in April fronting both the Bad Seeds and their primal offshoot Grinderman at Coachella – also came at a high cost: $140, or $165 once fees were added in.

Either the economy is getting better, or Cave, now 55, has exceptionally well-heeled fans, for the 1,500-capacity Fonda was sold out. Whether they got their money's worth is up to them, but Cave and the Bad Seeds – who are now something of an Aussie supergroup, with Ed Kuepper of the Saints on guitar and original Bad Seed Barry Adamson on keyboards and percussion – certainly gave a fine performance.

Performing Push the Sky Away was a risky decision, for though it had been streamed on various websites, it was probably unfamiliar to most of the crowd. It isn't an immediately accessible collection, either; the songs don't offer easy footholds. Built around loops and rhythms, the tracks are slowly unfolding atmospheres that keep you at arm's length and demand close attention. Running over them are Cave's refracted, word-drunk lyrics, so dense that even with a sheet on a music stand, the singer skipped over a verse or two during one of the lengthiest cuts, "Higgs Boson Blues."

But the songs are strong. "Jubilee Street" is a kind of gothic "Desolation Row," where "10-ton catastrophes" are pulled on a "60-pound chain" and a woman has "a little black book and my name is written on every page." It starts leisurely, with Warren Ellis scratching out a circular guitar line, and gains speed and intensity until it explodes. Both "Water's Edge," a tale of a romance as beautiful as it is dangerous, and "Finishing Jubilee Street," a half-spoken dream, made fine use of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Choir; the latter turning exquisitely creepy as the 40-odd young voices sang "see that girl coming on down."

More than anything else, the performance showed the mark Ellis has put on Cave's music. The Dirty Three frontman's electric violin and guitar have become the Bad Seeds' lead instrument, turning the sound more brutal and musical. "Higgs Boson Blues" a surreal narrative that ends with Miley Cyrus floating in a Toluca Lake swimming pool, simmers until it erupts without warning – then just as unexpectedly calms back down. (His violin also added a blood-curdling shriek to the evening's final number, Cave's cacophonously profane retelling of "Stagger Lee.")

Following the hourlong opening, Cave and his players indulged a half-hour of older selections, giving the band a chance to show off, starting with a stomping "From Her to Eternity," the title track of his first album with the Bad Seeds. What followed were some of his better-known pieces: a lolling rendition of "The Ship Song" (before which he turned to the choir and asked: "You ready kids? You gonna sing your little hearts out?") and then a steely "Jack the Ripper," a roughshod take on "Deanna" (with a great turnaround before the final chorus) and a tightly-coiled version of "The Mercy Seat."

The show ran a little longer than an hour and a half, which ends up costing nearly two dollars a minute. Was it worth it? That depends. But as Cave sang in "Push the Sky Away": "Some people say it's rock 'n' roll / But it gets you to your very soul."

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds perform at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds perform at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds perform at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Nick Cave, left, and Conway Savage on keyboards perform with the Bad Seeds at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Fans of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds mingle at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood during Thursday night's show. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Fans of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds mingle at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood during Thursday night's show. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Fans of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds mingle at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood before Thursday night's show. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds perform at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Bad Seeds guitarist Ed Kuepper, left, and Nick Cave perform at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds perform at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Fans of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds mingle at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood during Thursday night's show. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Fans in the front row wait for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds at Thursday night's show at the Fonda Theatre. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Fans of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds mingle at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood during Thursday night's show. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Fans of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds mingle at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood during Thursday night's show. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Warren Ellis performs with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday night. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER

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